In Gaza: Mixed Public Bathing with Hamas and Arafat………….
“Visitors duck through an arched door tucked into a narrow alley in Gaza City, following a worn stairway down to a labyrinth of stone chambers dappled with sunlight from a constellation of tiny windows in the domed ceiling. A stone plaque on the wall says the bathhouse was last renovated in the 13th century during the Mameluke empire that ruled from Cairo. Its owner, Selim al-Wazir, claims it has stood for 1,000 years. On the main wall hangs a huge portrait of the iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his one-time deputy Khalil Al-Wazir, better known as Abu Jihad, one of the owner's famous relatives who was assassinated by Israel in Tunis in 1988. The Al-Wazir family mostly supports the late Arafat's Fatah movement, but the hamam welcomes Palestinians of all political persuasions, including democratically-elected Hamas which has ruled Gaza since 2007……”
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